Manufacture of chain cables.



Patented Aug. I4, 1900.

No. 655,8l4.

J. VERITY.

MANUFACTURE OF CHAIN GABLES.

(Application filed Dec. 28, 1897.)

(No Model.)

m: uonms PETERS o0, Woruumcz.v WASHINGTON, uv n.

. NKTED JOIIN VERITY, OF LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND.

MANUFACTURE OF CHAIN CABLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of L tters Patent No. 655,814, dated August 14, 1900.

Application filed December 28, 1897. Serial No. 664,093. (No model.)

To (tZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN VERITY, engineer, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at 14 Church road, Stanley, Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Chain Gables, of which the following is a specification.

The invention consists in a casting apparatus for cables such as are used on board ship, as anchor-cables, mooring-cables, and the like; and it has mainly for its object to provide an apparatus by which such cables can be made by casting links of steel one into another or others and in a manner by which the manufacture can be practicallyand suc cessfully carried out and at a low cost.

According to the method of manufacturing chain from links and cables the links are made of circular form and then subsequently pressed or forged to the desired elliptical shape, with the usual stud or strut fitted in them, and after this they may be annealed or treated to any of the well-known processes to which steel is subjected. The chain or cable is made up of links in which a cast link is cast within another link-say at the end of a piece of completed cableor within that link and another separately-made link. In the latter case when the cast link is formed two links are added onto the cable. A link-casting apparatus when ready to receive the molten metal for the formation of a link comprises, mainly, two parts-namely, a box with a movable or hinged cover or covers having a chamber or recess in both body and cover or covers and a comparatively-thin lining or mold of sand or other suitable material made up of previously made or pressed parts of the desired form and sizes and adapted to fit in the said moldbox chambers or recesses. Thus the casting-box has a complete lining in the form of a sand mold fitting accurately in position therein and into which the metal is run. By this means a convenient and practical casting apparatus is provided by which steel cable-links can be cast without liability of defects caused by shrinkage flaws or defective structure due to chilling or to other faults or defects, and it comprises the characteristics and qualities both of casting-boxes which are capable of being readily handled and used and those of a sand mold.

The improvements, the nature of which are above described, are shown carried out or illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, Figure l is a sectional view through the casting-box on line 00 m of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the lower section of the casting-box. Fig. 3 is a section on line g y. Fig. 4 is a side View of the invention.

Referring in the first instance to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, a is the body or base of the metal casting-box, and b b are covers on the upper side of same, these covers being secured to the base by hinges b at their outer ends. 0 is a gap in the body or base Cb, extending laterally through it, in which the existing link or links to which a fresh link is to be added or connected up with rest during the operation of casting such links and also when the mold or lining segments are being placed in the box. A space equivalent to the gap 0 is also provided between the two inner ends of the covers I) b, as shown. (I shows chambers'or recesses partly in the body a and partly in the covers Z) I) of the apparatus, in which the said lining or mold fits or rests. e shows lugs on the body and covers of the casting-box, and f shows dogs which fit over these lugs and hold the covers b b firmly in position on the body when the sand mold or lining is in place and during the casting operation. g is a runner, and g the mouth of the upper end of same, through which the molten metal-i. 8., steel--is run into the apparatus when casting. The said mold or lining material is designated It is shown made up of four semicylindrical pieces of exactly the same size and shape, two of which when placed end to end form the up per half of the lining or mold, while the other two when similarly placed together form the other half of it. In the casting-box the meeting edges of the lower pair, forming the lower half of the mold, are arranged at ninety degrees from those of the upper half, so as to break joint therewith. Of course the moldcavity 2" within the moldrl is of the size of the link to be cast and is in communication with the runner g.

The sand molds or linings t will be made in the usual way of making mold-sections in special boxes of accurate sizes and form, corresponding With those of the chambers d, which are also of accurate form, so that the said segments register and fit together accurately. In some cases the sand or like mold or lining i may be in more than four parts, as six.

To place the sand molds or lining-segments in the metal box, the box is placed, in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, on a suitable support or bed, the base a resting, say, on a support at each end. The covers I) b are thrown up off the base, and the link or links, to and through which a new link is to be cast, being placed in position in the gap 0, as shown in the drawings, the mold segments '5 are placed properly in position in the chambers or recesses d. Then the covers I) b are moved down over the molds or lining and dogs fare placed over the projections e, and the whole apparatus is then securely closed up and ready to receive a charge of molt-en steel. In

--this condition the mold '1; will thus bridge or span the gap 0 and lie Within the link or links Z, as the case may be, to which the new link is to be added. To receive the charge of metal, the apparatus is placed vertically, with therunner-spoutg uppermost, and the metal is poured in. When the metal is sufficiently set, the box is placed on its rest, the dogs J" are knocked away, the covers I) b are thrown up, and the cable and mold or lining i, containing the newly-cast link, is taken out of the box. This completes the operation connected with the casting. The circular links or chains so formed are subsequently heated and bent or forged into the ordinary desired elliptical shape, and in case the chain is to serve as an ordinary ships or other cable While they are being thus shaped the ordinary stud is introduced in between the two sides of the link.

As above stated, this invention provides the improved features and advantages above specified in connection with the manufacture of cast-steel chain cables-that is, the invention affords the characteristics and qualities both of casting-boxes or means capable of being readily handled and used and those of a sand mold-and by it steel chain cable made by casting the links together as described is produced without shrinkage flaws, defective structure due to chilling, and other faults and defects; also, although the invention is principally directed to this production of cast chain cables of steel, and its value lies more particularly in the production of such manufacture, nevertheless the novel and useful features or characteristics herein described, which are applicable to and can be used with advantage in connection with the manufacture of chains or cables from other suitable cast metals or alloys, are also hereby included under it.

What I claim in respect of the herein described invention is- A casting-box and cover portions having two recesses receiving a mold-lining i, having a central opening and a continuous gap 0 across the box and cover portions between said recesses, adapted to receive a pair of links to be connected by the link to be cast in said mold; substantially as set. forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN VERITY.

Vvitnesses JOHN H. WALKER, F; E. FLEETWooD. 

